A Little History
by kkeya
Summary: Six short ficlet-things, mostly focusing on Marco and Rachel. Rated for very mild references to alcohol and drugs in chapter three.
1. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

01. **Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere**.

"I could have taken them!" That would be Rachel, of course. Beautiful, crazy Rachel.

Not necessarily in that order.

Ah yes, the life of a superhero. Once again we'd gone to battle against terrifyingly bad odds, barely escaping with our lives, and were now trudging home late at night, in the rain, wearing nothing but our skin-tight, badly-coordinated morphing outfits and no shoes.

The non-human members of our sorry little group had flown straight home. Cassie had morphed to owl and headed to her place a few bus stops ago. She could have gone with the others, but I guess she wanted to walk with us for a while. Me, Jake, and Rachel all lived in the same neighborhood, so we walked together. Jake pulled out ahead after Cassie left. He gets broody after a battle. I was exhausted and depressed. My fingers and toes looked like prunes, and I had aches in muscles I didn't even _have _anymore. Not exactly a sight that would instill confidence in the hearts of our fellow man.

Naturally, Rachel was elated, because Rachel is insane. And it was left to me to deal with it, because Jake sure wasn't going to.

"You would have _died_, Rachel," I said. She rolled her eyes. "Or isn't there enough room left over in your brain to be able to accommodate the concept of death? Too much time spent cramming it full of winter sale schedules?"

"Yeah, that's it," she said dryly. "I could have done it, though. There were, what, nine Hork-Bajir left? Ten?"

"Try fifteen," I retorted. "With reinforcements on the way. Unlike you, my gorilla can see more than a foot in front of me."

"What, fifteen of them against six of us?" she snorted derisively. "We could have taken them. Piece of cake."

You know that thing they always tell you in English class? "Show, don't tell"? Yeah. Now you see. Insane.

"_You _were only missing an arm. You try fending off fifteen Hork-Bajir when you're holding your stomach closed and one of them is trying to decapitate you. And did I mention the reinforcements?"

"I would have backed you up," Rachel grumped. Which was true, she would have. She would have died in the process, but hey, we can't have everything.


	2. In Case We Die

02. **In Case We Die**.

"Damn it, I got a ten and I have to stop on the stupid marriage square? That is such a waste."

"Too bad they don't have a bird-shaped peg."

"Clever. If we're aiming for accuracy, the marriage square should be off-limits for you."

"If we were aiming for accuracy there wouldn't _be _a marriage square. Or a choice between college and career. It'd just be one square. The 'hey, kids, wanna get yourselves killed?' square. Then you'd pick your battle morph, and the rest of the game would just be one battle after another until we all die. And the Life tiles would tell you what body parts you lost along the way."

"Uh-huh. It's your turn."

"What, nothing? I've been working on that for the past five minutes and you don't even smile? My genius is wasted on you, Rachel. Wasted."

"You got a genius? Where have you been keeping it?"

"Very funny."

"It's still your turn."

"Fine. One. _One_. Let me spin again. The stupid wheel stuck."

"No way! If I have to waste a ten to get married, you have to keep the stupid one. Man, why are we even playing this?"

"Because it's as close to a normal life as we're ever going to get?"

"Well, there's a happy thought."

"I saw that."

"Excuse me?"

"You smiled. You smiled! You keep a straight face at my Game of Life versus our lives analogy but the second I start in on the depressing facts you crack a smile? What is wrong with you?"

"Analogy? That's a big word for you, Marco. You should be proud."


	3. We Need To Do This More Often

**Content note**: mild references to alcohol and drugs.

.

03. **We Need To Do This More Often**.

"We should be doing stupid, normal teenage things," Marco grumbled. "We should be - I don't know. Breaking curfew."

"We are breaking curfew," Rachel pointed out.

"Yeah, so we can go get ourselves killed! Everyone else our age is sitting in a field somewhere getting drunk. We should be getting drunk."

"Everyone, Marco? Must be a pretty big field."

"It is. There's a big field, somewhere out there, and everyone is there except us. Getting drunk and doing drugs and, I don't know, spraying graffiti all over the place."

"Oh, so the field has walls now?" Jake teased. "It's an enclosed field?"

"But no, _we_ can't go," Marco continued, ignoring him. "_We_ have to save the world."

Rachel sighed dramatically. "Our parents would be so proud."

"Screw proud. I don't want to die."

"You want to be alive so you can take drugs?" Jake asked.

"And spraypaint," Rachel said. "I don't know if you know this, Marco, but you shouldn't be eating paint."

"Thanks for pointing that out."

"Paint's vegan, you know," Cassie said.

Everyone stared at her.

"How do you even know that?" Marco cried. "_Why_ would you ever need to know that? You just got a craving one day and decided to investigate? Oh, God, I'm going to die and my last thought is going to be 'Well, at least no animals were harmed'. Except for _me_."


	4. For Certain Values of Nutrition

04. **For Certain Values of "Nutrition"**.

{Hey, kids.}

"Hello, Marco."

"Oh, good. Marco's here. I thought you were staying at the valley."

{I missed you too much, Rachel. It was like a hole in my heart. I just couldn't stay away.}

{I wish you would.}

"What, I can't stop by to hang out with my favorite wood-dwelling friends?"

"They're your friends? You have friends?"

"They love me. You love me. Come on, how could you not? What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Buffy."

"You too, huh?"

"I brought popcorn."

"Is there any left?"

"Yeah. I did a separate bag for Ax. He finished it already."

"It tasted very similar to the popcorn at the movies, but there were differences. Rachel's popcorn tasted of smoke, as well as salt and grease."

"...I burnt some of it."

"Ah. Well, I'm not exactly feeling picky."

"Tobias? You want some?"

{I'm fine, thanks.}

"Oh, come on. If I have to eat Rachel's burnt popcorn, so do you. She's _your_ girlfriend. We'll make a night of it. Four mostly humans in the middle of the woods, watching Buffy and eating - man, I think that was actually a piece of charcoal."

"Shut up. It's mostly fine. You should be grateful."

"Tobias, you have to eat this."

"May I share?"

"Ax, you already... oh, fine. You can have one handful."

"He can have as many handfuls as he likes. Seriously, that is disgusting."

"I thought you said you weren't picky?"

"Yeah, but that was before I actually tasted it."


	5. That's a Problem

05. **That's a Problem**.

"Remember back in the day, when we talked about things besides the war?" I muttered, readjusting my grip on the raccoon whose leg Cassie was re-bandaging. She probably could have done it by herself, but I was there, so I figured I may as well give her a hand while we waited for the others to show up.

"Like shopping?" Cassie said innocently.

"Yeah," I laughed. "Movies, TV, music, boys. Normal stuff."

"We never really talked about boys."

"We talked about Jake."

"_You_ talked about Jake, you mean," Cassie said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, and you hung on every word," I teased. Back in the old days she would have blushed at that. But she's tougher now, more confident. My girl Cassie.

"Okay, so let's talk, then," she said. "Boys. Go."

I hesitated. "I guess there really isn't anything to say."

"Yeah," Cassie said. She sounded almost wistful. "So, what? We talk about how we never talk about boys anymore?"

"We never talk about boys anymore," I nodded.

"Such a waste."

"It's tragic."

"All right, we're done," Cassie said, taking off her gloves. "You can put him back in the cage now."

"The raccoon's a boy? We could talk about the raccoon."

Cassie laughed. "I don't know," she said, feigning seriousness. "I haven't known him for very long, but he seems pretty docile."

"He's cute, too."

"Who's cute?" Marco asked. Jake followed him in, giving Cassie a little wave before sitting down on a bale of hay.

"The raccoon," Cassie said.

"The raccoon," Marco echoed. He shot me a look. "First birds, now raccoons? Well, at least raccoons are mammals."

"Shut up, Marco."

Tobias and Ax arrived. Tobias flew in and perched in his usual spot, up in the rafters.

"Hey, Bird-Boy, did you know your girlfriend's attracted to raccoons now?" Marco said gleefully.

{Really,} Tobias said coolly, then added, almost as an afterthought, {A raccoon tried to eat me once.}

I grimaced. I looked at Cassie. "That's... less cute."

"Oh, I don't know," Marco said, gesturing to the raccoon, now back in his cage. "Look at his tiny little hands. Those beady little eyes. You'd make a very attractive couple."

Jake sighed. "Are you done? We kind of have things to discuss."

"Why were you talking about raccoons, anyway?" Marco asked.

"We were talking about... normal things," I said.

"We were talking about how we never talk about boys," Cassie clarified.

"Oh, right! Well, _that_ makes perfect sense," Marco said, then grinned and leaned forward. "So, Rachel? Anything to say? Or not say, I guess. Kissed any birds lately? Cassie? Any romantic evenings spent mucking out the stalls? You know, you look so pretty when you're covered in hay. It really brings out your eyes."

"Guys," Jake said tersely. "We have to plan."

"Why didn't I think of that?" I wondered. "It's boy related and everything. How come Marco can talk about normal things and we can't?"

"Rachel, kissing birds isn't exactly normal."

"Okay, me and Ax and Tobias are going to plan," Jake said. "You guys can join in whenever you like."


	6. A Little History

06. **A Little History**.

"Get me a... uh," Tobias hesitated. "I don't actually know what they sell here."

"Food, Tobias. Non-rodent-based food," Marco said.

Jake said, "It's fine. I'll get you a burger or something."

We were at the mall. We'd agreed to run into each other in a series of amazing coincidences for lunch. Not for organizing a mission, for once. Just for fun. Just for something normal to do.

"May I have a cinnamon bun?" Ax asked for the third time.

"Yes, Ax," Jake said wearily. "So, three burgers, a vegetable... wrap... thing - four burgers? Four burgers. Three Cokes, a Mountain Dew, a water -"

"A cinnamon bun," Marco interjected.

Jake shot him a look, then smiled. "A cinnamon bun, and... that's it. Right?"

"Fries?" Marco asked.

"Should we be writing this down?" I joked.

"Actually, can I get an orange juice instead of the water?" Cassie asked meekly.

"Okay," Jake pinched the bridge of his nose. "Four burgers with fries, four Cokes, a cinnamon bun, and an orange juice?"

"And a vegetable wrap," Marco grinned. "And I think that was meant to be three Cokes and a Mountain Dew. And don't forget the cinnamon bun."

"I said the cinnamon bun. I specifically made a point of saying 'cinnamon bun'."

"Maybe we _should _be writing this down. Does anyone have a pen and paper?" I looked at Cassie. She shrugged. "No one?"

"Okay. Four burgers, a cinnamon bun, a wat- no, an orange juice, a wrap... what is it, Marco?"

"I'm thinking nachos."

"No you're not," Jake grated. "Man, we've been on missions less complicated than this."

"I'll get mine and Ax's stuff, okay?" Cassie said. "And the drinks. You just get the burgers and fries."

"And the nachos," I teased.

"Thanks," Jake said, ignoring me.

"See? A happy marriage is all about sharing the workload," Marco said.

"Don't forget the cinnamon bun," I called after them. Cassie waved over her shoulder.

"I should have asked for a cinnamon bun, too. Or a smoothie."

"Jake would have killed you."

"Yeah, but it'd be worth it. So," Marco said, leaning back in his chair. "How is everyone? Anything _not _war-related to report?"

We all looked at each other blankly for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever.

"I think the owl that lives in my meadow found a mate," Tobias tried.

Marco stared at him. "That's _it_?"

"We've been kind of busy, Marco," I pointed out.

"We're _always _kind of busy. We've been fighting for -" he lowered his voice. "We've been fighting for more than a year and what do we have to show for it? We're no closer to winning than we were the day we started, and a bird Tobias knows has a girlfriend. And, what, that's _it_? Oh, man."

"Try not to have a breakdown in the middle of the food court, okay?" I said helpfully.

"Thanks for the tip," Marco muttered.

He was right, though, and it bothered me, too. Our lives had become consumed by war. Everyone says they worry about what's going to happen to me when it ends, if we win.

I worry about them.

I mean, at least I've put some thought into it. I've had to. I know I can't take for granted that I'll be all right. The others - Jake and Cassie and Marco, at least - they think they'll be fine. They think they can get off the ride any time they like. I don't know, maybe they can. But I doubt it.

We all sat in silence, staring at our hands or the table or, in Ax's case, at Cassie, who was standing in line at the Cinnabon.

Jake came back and handed out the burgers and fries and the nachos. Marco scowled at them.

"What's up with you?" Jake asked through a mouthful of burger.

"The owl that lives in his meadow has a girlfriend, apparently," Marco said, pointing at Tobias.

"Okay," Jake said, confused. Then he grinned. "But maybe if you ask her she'll leave him for you, and then it won't be so bad, right?"

Marco gave me a look. "I'll stick to humans, thanks."

"I'm right here, you know," Tobias said. It surprised me. Tobias doesn't usually react to things like that. "Arms and legs and everything."

"Yeah, for two hours," Marco retorted.

He was stressed, I realized. Loud, enclosed spaces are no place for hawks. And Tobias had been living as a hawk for a long time.

"Marco, will you just shut up for once?" I snapped.

"Hey, everyone, calm down," Jake said, raising his hands. "Let's just eat, okay?"

"Yes, Dad," Marco said, but he didn't say anything else.

Cassie came back and gave Ax his bun, which was gone in under a minute. She didn't say anything. I guess she sensed the mood. We must have looked pretty stupid: six teenagers huddled around a table in the middle of the food court, picking sullenly at their burgers.

Tobias made an excuse and headed off with Ax before we finished. I glared at Marco, daring him to say something, make some stupid comment, almost wishing he would, but he didn't.

Instead he said, "I hate it when we try to be normal."


End file.
